Hello everyone, hope you're feeling spooky! So as today is Halloween I thought I would do a special blog post. Let me know in the comments below what you are doing for Halloween or have done - I know most people probably had Halloween parties last weekend! My plan for tonight is order a pizza, stick on one of my favourite films The Nightmare Before Christmas & carve a mini pumpkin we bought. Perhaps have a glass of wine too.

Today's post is about horror films with the theme of mental health. You're probably aware but so many horror films are based on some sort of mental health issue. They often don't represent them in the correct way as they are made for entertainment purposes and exaggerate it a lot. I'm not saying that you shouldn't watch horror films - as hey I watch them too! But I thought I'd look into them more seriously. I studied film at university and this is a super interesting topic, I don't want you to think I'm ruining your fun of watching horror films because I'm not trying to do that - this is just something that is not really talked about so I thought I'd write a small post on it! (Please read this disclaimer before continuing).

If you want a read into horror films exploiting mental health issues then have a read of this article as it's a pretty good one.

Horror films - mental illness themes

Sadly, in most horror films it is often common that someone has been released from a psychiatric ward and then they end up going on murderous rampages and enjoy killing people. It comes across that someone with a mental illness is scary and the 'normal' folk should fear them because hey, they're most definitely going to stalk and kill you. There are so many stereotypes when it comes to the portrayal of mental illness, the obvious one being the depiction of psychological disabilities as a source of violence or brutality. A lot of horror films tend to glamorise mental illnesses, let's look at some examples:

Psycho (1960) -

A great film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on a novel of the same name written by Robert Bloch in 1959. The main plot of the film (without spoilers - although I'm sure many people have seen this film), a secretary called Marion Crane ends up at this secluded motel and the motel's owner is Norman Bates who ends up recreating his mother in his mind so he dresses up as her and that is when he becomes violent. It's known as one of Hitchcock's best films and it's a really good one to watch, the cinematography is brilliant. After doing some research this is what I have found on the mental illness theme:

There's very strong evidence that Bates has dissociative identity disorder - this is suggested as he flicks in between his own identity and his dead mother's identity. This could be seen as the film glamorising the mental health illness, and ultimately creating this stigma around it. If you think about the name of the film 'Psycho' does that mean having a dissociative identity disorder makes you a psycho? However we know that Bates does some violent things and he is a dangerous man - hence the name of the film I suppose. There's plenty of research out there that show the majority of people with a mental illness are not violent or dangerous, but films don't depict them that way. Obviously this is done for 'entertainment' purposes and they like to make films have an interesting psychological twist that you perhaps didn't see coming - Shutters Island is a good example of this.

"If you were asked to name someone with a mental illness in a movie, the chances are that a crazed killer or deranged psychopath would spring to mind."

Split (2016) -

Split was directed by M Night Shyamalan and is quite a popular film - I'm sure plenty of you have seen this one. This is also a psychological horror thriller film - and although popular, there's a lot of negative reviews about the way they show the mental illness. The plot of the film is a man has 23 different personalities and he ends up kidnapping three teenage girls, and one of his darker personalities results in his eventual transformation into a merciless and cannibalistic sociopath.

Many professionals and people who suffer with DID say the film stigmatises the disorder and has a negative impact on those that have the condition. This movie in particular (and the majority of films that have a character with this illness) implies that someone with DID can be violent - if you research into the disorder most experts say that those people are more likely to hurt themselves than others. Films like this add stigma to the mental illness and unfortunately leads viewers to have the wrong idea of it.

Have a read of this article written by someone who suffers with Dissociative identity disorder.

Reading through this article I understand completely that it must be hard to watch a film that portrays the mental illness in a negative light - seeing the person on screen who suffers with it being dangerous and violent is going to be an upsetting thing to watch.

They do also mention that the director had clearly done some homework and showed the growing acceptance. I also read a comment that mentioned that after watching the film it made them want to research dissociative identity disorder and that they knew the film was going to sensationalise the illness but it intrigued them to read about it - which is a great positive! But not everyone is going to think like that.

Other films that are similar and many find problematic and stigmatising are:

Friday the 13th (1980)Halloween (1978) The Shining (1980)Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)The list could go on and on.. there's also remakes of some the old classics too. This is another great article about horror films depicting mental illnesses.

Although there are plenty of other films from different genres out there that are not guilty of stigmatising mental illnesses and do a pretty good job!

Some examples are:

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - Pat played by Bradley Cooper plays a character that has bipolar disorder, and Tiffany played by Jennifer Lawrence who suffers with depression. I would recommend this film - it's a great one.A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Nash played by Russell Crowe is someone who suffers with paranoid schizophrenia and suffers with delusional episodes. Another great film.

Rain Man (1988) - This films brings the character Charlie played by Tom Cruise together with his brother he never knew about called Raymond played by Dustin Hoffman. He soon discovers Raymond has an autistic savant syndrome and adheres to strict routines. Definitely worth a watch.

I'm hoping most people that watch these horrors/thrillers don't think too much into the mental illness the main 'villain' suffers and rather is more intrigued by it and then does further research into it online so you can find out what it's actually like. It is sad that the film industry shows mental illness in such a negative light, it glamorises it, it brings more stigma around the illness and it's hard to see for those that do suffer with it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and perhaps has got you thinking more about it! Let me know in the comments below you thoughts and if this is something you have looked into before!

Chat soon, have a great Halloween ❤

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Some links may be affiliate links so I can get a small amount of money through them at no extra cost to you.

Hello everyone, hope you're a well. I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all the love on my previous post, if you haven't read it you can find it here - everyone has been so lovely and it was great to learn how blogging has helped you too.

Today's post is all about those amazing phone apps that can help when you're in tough situations, you may be feeling stressed, anxious, finding it difficult to focus, on the verge of a panic attack or currently having a panic attack. Some of the apps that I am going to talk about have been helpful to me and I find them to be some of the best ones that I have used. Of course, you may have others that you use that you think are really great - so please let me know in the comments below!

When I suffer with panic attacks I always use breathing exercises to help me and if I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack I will do them straight away. Luckily for me I have a lovely boyfriend who will often sit by the side of me and do the breathing exercises with me to help me through them. But honestly breathing exercises are so important, they can stop panic attacks from happening and stop them whilst you're having one. All the apps I will mention all have breathing exercises on them so do check them out if you're unsure how/or what to do for them.

What's up? App.

This was one of the first apps I ever downloaded. For a while I never really thought they'd be these kind of apps to help with your mental health - I remember at one point I was feeling so stressed and anxious that I just went onto the Playstore on my phone and typed in 'anxiety apps' because at that particular moment I needed help.

When you first download the app it goes through screens that you can swipe and tells you that you're not alone, and then gives you some facts of how many people experience a mental illness in some form. Once you are at the home screen you have so many options to click onto: Help right now, Coping strategies, Information, and Personal. If you're feeling anxious at that very moment you can click the first option of 'help right now' and it then gives you a list of activities. One of my favourite things in this section is the 'Get grounded game' which basically distracts you and makes your mind concentrate on other things. An example could be that it says: Name 5 different animals that only eat meats or other animals - it then has 5 stars at the bottom and either out loud or in your head you answer the question and click the stars when you think of one, and it then continues until you're feeling more calm.

It's got breathing exercises on there, and one of my favourite things on the whole app is the information section. It has topics including, anger, anxiety, depression, self esteem and stress, and when you click onto them it tells you about them. Something that helped me was learning about anxiety, when I read about it from Anxiety, Panicking about Panic, it helped me to understand anxiety and it actually put my mind more at ease because I could link certain aspects that I suffered to anxiety.

Headspace App

Another great app is Headspace. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about this one, it's a popular one. When you sign up to the app - which is completely free (although you can decide to pay for premium if you wanted), you get asked if you have meditated before, if you haven't then it will go through it with you explaining how to. When I signed up I clicked that I had practised it a little and you get basic meditating exercises. There is 10 sessions and you can choose 3, 5 or 10 minutes, and you can set a reminder daily to when you would like to do it. There's so much on this app, it'll be way too long to go through everything on there, but you've got a working out session so you can decide to go on a run and have a coach to listen to, there's a travel section, walking, SOS, morning activities, helping you to get to sleep including sounds to listen to, an unwind section, rough day, anxious moments... I could go on and on! There is also the breathing activities to help steady your breathing if you're feeling anxious or even having a panic attack.

There is a lot more when you pay for premium but in a lot of these options there's a try for free option - which is handy as if it's something that really helps, you might think about paying for it monthly. You can also link this app to your Alexa which is pretty cool, so when you do your daily meditation you can listen to the sounds and the person talking through the Alexa.

I'll admit this isn't one that I use the most, I do enjoy having a go at the basic meditation in the mornings, it helps to relax you and makes you feel more grounded before you start your day.

Calm App

My third app is Calm. I've been really enjoying this one at the moment. It's similar to the previous two in that you have a selection of options you can choose. You can also pay for a premium account where you get access to more, but there's plenty you can do for free. I really like that when you open this app it plays calm music, I actually opened it once to show my mum and I didn't realise it played music and there were others sat by us at the time and I said 'whoever is playing the music can you stop whilst I show mum something on this app' and then I realised it was me, it was the app.

My favourite part of the app is the sleep section. You have a few sleep stories that you can listen to as you're about to go to bed. They make you feel unbelievably relaxed, and the people who voice it have the most calming voices ever. Obviously my favourite is Stephen Fry's Blue Gold story - although as he gets to the end where he's barely whispering it did make me laugh a little - but of course he gets quieter and calmer as the story goes on so you fall asleep. It also has so many sounds that you can listen to when you're trying to get to sleep - and there is something for everyone here! Ocean waves, piano music, space themed ones - they're all just fab. You can have a look at the app if you click on the picture below or search calm in your phone app store.

Thank you so much for reading and if you have any apps that use let me know in the comments I'm always looking for more of these! Do you use any of the ones I have mentioned and if so do they help you?

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Some links may be affiliate links so I can get a small amount of money through them at no extra cost to you. Also this is not a sponsored post I just wanted to share these apps with you.

Today's post is something that I felt is quite important to talk about. You might not all be able to relate to it but I wanted to share with you how blogging has helped my mental health. You can see my post about my mental health story here - but I wanted to go into one of the main coping methods that has been one of the biggest steps for me in my journey.

Back at the beginning of the year when my mental health was getting worse and worse I felt like there was nothing that could take this away from me, I felt as if I was stuck feeling like this and nothing and no one could help me. Of course I'm always going to have 'bad' days and I still struggle with many things because of my anxiety but I have gotten a lot better and I've started to do things I thought I'd never be able to do. When I first reached out for help there were a few things I did - reached out to a friend, went to the doctors, read self-help books, took advice from family and loved ones - a big part of my journey was starting this blog. I have had this blog for a few years now but it was only at the end of March this year that I got back to it and decided to tell the world my story and now I blog about mental health.

Blogging - the beginning.

In March I decided to write up a blog post about what I had been going through and my experience and then in April I decided to publish it. I remember the day so well, it was utterly terrifying. The thought of people I knew knowing about what I had been going through was the biggest fear for me, I had to go to work the next day and let me tell you I was scared. However the response I got was absolutely amazing, everyone was so lovely and supportive and people started speaking out about what they had/have been going through too - and you know what, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It was the start to me getting better.

Writing blog posts is such a calming and relaxing experience for me, it can be a way to get what's on your mind out in front of you - and I don't always publish everything I write, sometimes I type things up because I need to get something off my chest and it's there for me to look back on.

Ways blogging has helped:

🖉Helps me put all my worries and stresses in one place. So as I said above I don't have to publish everything I type up - but when I'm stressing about something or I have something on my mind that is causing me so much worry it helps me to write it down. You also don't have to be a blogger to do this, you can write on a notepad on your computer or just grab a pen and paper and write them down.

Also once you have it all written out in front of you, you can start writing solutions next to them. You don't have to just have the one solution either, small step by step goals can be amazing. I know personally if I'm worrying about something that will take me a long time to reach the point where I've stopped worrying about it, when I achieve small steps towards it, I feel better.

🖉Helps me to understand mental health. If you haven't read any of my blog posts before you wouldn't know this, but because I like to write informative posts about ways to feel more positive, or how certain things can help with mental health - such as music, video games, pets etc, I do a lot of research before I publish any of my posts. This means that I am learning so much myself before I even start writing out the blog post! I never knew the ins and outs of what getting enough sleep does to our bodies and our mental well-being - but now I know loads about it. So because of this extensive research it helps me to understand it and because I decide to publish what I learn it helps all of you out too!

When I wasn't at my best I remember thinking to myself, I wouldn't want anyone to go through this. As I was getting better and improving I wanted others to know what I had/have been doing to help me so that I could hopefully help and inspire others.

🖉Has helped me to become more creative and gives me a purpose. I have always been a creative person but I never really pursued it. When I was at school I loved doing Art and Graphics and I was actually pretty good at drawing and thinking up creative ideas. However I stopped doing that - I would definitely need to get practising drawing if I wanted to get good at it again - but it's possible. Starting my blog I realised how much I love writing, when I was younger I wrote so many stories, I also started writing a fiction piece and I hand wrote about 400 pages! (I have never finished it though.) So starting this blog and writing these positive and informative posts is something that I love to do. It gives me a space to show my creativity and I can show people what I am good at.

Also as I said, it gives me a purpose. What I mean by this is that it's something that keeps me going. If I didn't have a blog to write out posts on it would really affect my mental well-being. I don't mean to say that I'm relying on it a hundred percent to make me feel better but it's something to keep me busy. Of course you don't have to be a blogger either to do this, get yourself a journal where you can write and get your creativeness out on paper.

🖉Connecting with others. One of the biggest things I have learnt about blogging is that there are so many bloggers out there! Sometimes when you feel like you have no one to turn to or you feel alone, it's so lovely to know that you can speak to other bloggers. I have come across so many who write about their mental health and sometimes all you need is that blog post from someone else to know that you're not alone, others are trying to get through the same thing as you. You get so much support from others and it really helps to inspire and motivate you to become more positive and learn about self-care.

I could definitely write pages and pages of how blogging has helped my mental health and I'm sure so many of you can relate to this or if not learn how blogging can be a big help! I hope you enjoyed reading this post!

My self-care recommendation:

Today I am recommending these Stress Less cards. They're so good to have in your bag whilst you're out and about or if you're at home and you really need something to help you feel less anxious or less stressed. They each have little self-care steps and mini activities for you to do. They also look super cute but are incredibly helpful. Check them out here:

Has blogging helped you? Is it something you have ever thought about starting? Let me know in the comments below!

As always,

Chat soon ❤

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Some links may be affiliate links so I can get a small amount of money through them at no extra cost to you.

So I've been nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award! This is my fourth award now which is so crazy (I am still yet to write up 2 of them), but I never imagined I'd get any of these to be honest! The blogging community is so lovely, supportive and encouraging and it's a big reason to why I enjoy blogging so much. I have received the Versatile Blogger award from the lovely Alice over at booksbakesandblogs so do go and check out her amazing blog! ♡

I enjoy these little posts where you get to tell your readers a little bit about yourself - I always blog about advice and informative mental health/well-being posts but don't often get to talk about myself generally - so it's kind of fun!

My facts:

1. My favourite ever Disney film is Oliver and Company. I've watched this so many times, the songs are so catchy, the characters are great - Oliver is the cutest, it's just something I will never get tired of watching and I don't think any Disney film will ever take over the number one spot for me.

2. I have a weird obsession with prawn crackers. They're so more-ish! If I ever have a Chinese takeaway or just go to the shop and buy a packet I will eat them in one sitting - there's no way I can make them last more than half an hour. And even if I can't finish all my main food I will somehow have room to eat all of the prawn crackers afterwards.

3. I love cats. Probably not much of a surprise (seeing as I did say I loved Oliver and Company) but they're just my all-time favourite little fluffballs. I have always had a cat as a pet, I have a cat handbag, cat pillows, cat artwork on the walls, a cat lamp, clothing with cats on it, (I could go on..) but you get the gist. You can see my lovely cat Otis in a previous post: pets and mental health.

4. I cracked my head open on a curb. So there I was riding my bike down a road by my house and then round to another road which lead me back to my house - so a big circle basically. As I was riding down one of these roads there was a brick in the middle of the road (yes I actually saw the brick) and somehow I still clipped my bike wheel on it, flew over the handlebars and fell headfirst onto a curb. I can't really remember the pain now as I was only little but I remember just standing there crying my eyes out and my brother saw me and had to fetch my dad - and then off I went to the hospital! I now have a scar on my head so I can always remember that moment in my life.

5. I play PokemonGo. So I'm sure you all remember the hype around Pokemon Go when it first came about, well I still love playing it. I don't play it everyday but whenever I'm out and about (especially as I live in a city) and will get Pokemon Go on the go (lol) and play it until my phone is near dead usually. Especially when there's special community days it's absolutely crazy walking around Birmingham and seeing like 30 odd people standing around just catching Pokemon and then you get the odd people walking by who don't play it that are like 'what the hell is going on.'

6. I love making dinners look aesthetically pleasing. What I mean by this is when I've made a curry or something I won't just dish it up on the plates, I'll dish up the rice on the plates and then get out a big bowl to put the curry in so we can then help ourselves to however much we want on our plate. Another example is when we have Mexican nights - we have a bowl for the fajita chicken mix, little mini bowls for the lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream & guacamole and then a plate for the wraps. Then we have our own plates and make our fajita wraps! I know this makes a lot more washing up then needed (and it is effort cleaning it all I know trust me) but I wouldn't have it any other way!

7. If I start cleaning, I end up cleaning every room. I live in a flat so I only have 3 rooms anyway but I just can't help myself. I'll start cleaning the kitchen and the living room and then I'll end up just cleaning the bathroom a little or making sure the bedroom is tidy too. Most of the time I actually enjoy cleaning (of course there's times where I don't want to do it but it needs to be done) but perhaps its just because I like seeing the place tidy!

So there are my facts, I wanted to make them a bit different and unusual as I thought that would be quite fun!

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well! My favourite posts to write are the positive self-care ones, they're such a joy to write and they help me and those that read them. So today's post is about loving yourself. I have written posts similar to this before have a look at my body image post!

This is something that many of us struggle with, we often speak more negatively about ourselves rather than speak about ourselves in a positive way. An example of this could be that you've managed to do your winged eyeliner so well today, but you also feel self-conscious about how your body looks today. For some reason the negative thought will stick in our minds and not the positive thought. Any way, I thought I'd make a little list because who doesn't love a list - I sure do!

Here are some inspiring tips on how you can learn to love yourself and get rid of those negative thoughts:

🎕Care as much about yourself as you do for others.

When you have a friend or family member that is feeling down or saying that 'they don't like the way their hair looks today' what do you say back in return? You tell they're being silly and that it looks great as always, so why don't we do that to ourselves? Many of us tend not to care about ourselves as much as those that we love because we feel that we're being selfish to think like that, or that our own needs are not as important - let me tell you something, they're very important. Be gentle to yourself, tell yourself you look fabulous, tell yourself you're doing great - go on, do it now, say out loud something that you've done well on today! Mine is that I've written up a bunch of blog posts today and I'm pretty proud of that.

🎕Note down your boundaries and keep to them.

What I mean by this is if you write a list of things that are important to you and it can upset you or hurt your feelings if they are violated or ignored. For example something that is important to you could be that you like to be listened to and then if someone ignores that by talking over you or purposely doesn't listen to you don't ignore that boundary. Tell that person that you hate it when you're trying to speak and someone talks over you. Let people know what your boundaries are, don't just think, 'oh well, I guess it isn't important anyway' because it is! This is something to think about when you're in relationships - they're a two-way thing, you need to be assertive with each other, you need to know that you'll get the respect you deserve back. As well, being assertive and taking action to meet your own needs can help build your self-esteem as it'll reinforce the belief in yourself and others that you deserve to be loved.

🎕Have fun by yourself.

It's important that you can have fun by yourself and you aren't always relying on others to keep you entertained. It's good to enjoy your own company and feel more confident doing things on your own. Maybe you fancy having a nice lunch out? Then go to that cafe you really like, sit down and have some delicious food and read through a book or bring along your laptop to do some writing. I don't know about you, but I love having me-time. Of course it's lovely having people over, or going out and doing something but sometimes I just want to get cosy in bed, put something on Netflix that I love, get some snacks, perhaps put a face-mask on and just have that time with myself.

🎕Forgive yourself for your mistakes.

This is an important one. We all make mistakes, no one is perfect, we can't get hung up on our mistakes, we're only human! Perhaps there's a mistake that you have made years ago but it's always stuck in the back of your mind and it continuously comes back to haunt you every so often. Maybe you should confront it and forgive yourself, clear it from your mind, it's done now and there's nothing you can do about it, it's time to let it go. Loving yourself despite any mistakes you made in the past is great for your self-worth.

🎕Celebrate your successes and give yourself that credit you deserve.

I'm sure if you were to write a list of what you have done that you're proud of they'd be loads. Or maybe you've received a certificate from a competition or from school that you got ages ago but hey well done you (that's what you should be saying to yourself.) As well as writing down your accomplishments why not actually celebrate them too, tell others what you have achieved, treat yourself, do something nice, give yourself the credit that you deserve.

🎕Learn to say no to others.

Be a little selfish. If someone asks you to do something but you don't want to then say no, it's your choice not theirs. For some reason we like to please other people more than ourselves and I understand you do it because you love that person and you want them to be happy but as long as it's not all you do. You can become overwhelmed if you have so many people asking you to do this or to do that, so sometimes just say no.

🎕Give yourself a break!

We all deserve breaks every so often, we deserve to feel relaxed. It's natural that we are hard on ourselves, like I said before, no one is perfect so you can't expect yourself to be. Perhaps put aside some time once or twice a week where it's just about you and no one else. Relax, take a break from life, have a relaxing bath, watch your favourite program, play your favourite video game, give yourself that time.

🎕Do what you need to do to feel good about yourself.

What is it that makes you feel good? Is it baking some cakes or cooking your favourite recipe? Is it doing a workout? Is it doing some writing? Whatever it is do it, make time to do it. Compare things - how do you feel at work? Stressed or tired? And then how do you feel when you're playing video games - excited and relaxed? Do what makes you feel good as often as you can! Don't let people talk you out of doing something you love because that's just you being you.

I hope you enjoyed this post! What is something you love about yourself? Or what is something that you have accomplished that you are proud of?

As always,

Chat soon ♥

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My self-care reading recommendation:

Today I am recommending - Mindfulness for Cats by Sam Hart. This is the cutest little book you'll ever see, every page is pictures of cats with inspirational quotes. If you're someone who loves quotes, you'll love this book! The quotes are all little self help messages that make you think and help you to learn to love and take care of yourself. Also if you love looking at cute cats then what more could you want really! Here's the link:

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→Some links may be affiliate links so I can get a small amount of money through them.

I hope you're all doing well. Today's post is about SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. It can be quite common but it is a type of depression that comes and goes in seasonal patterns. It is more common in Winter than most of the other seasons which is why you may have heard of it as 'Winter depression' instead. Of course not everyone suffers with this.

What is SAD?

As I have said, Seasonal affective disorder is a form of depression that people experience at a particular time of the year or during certain seasons. You'll probably find that the majority of us are affected by seasonal changes, it's pretty normal to feel cheerful and more upbeat when the sun is shining or you may find that you eat or sleep more during the colder seasons. But if you suffer with SAD then the effect of the change of the season will be much greater on your mood and how you feel as a whole, it can really affect your day to day life.

It is more common for those that experience SAD to have it during the winter but it does still affect some of us in the Summer. Researching into this, it's quite interesting to learn that SAD is most common in countries like the UK as there are bigger changes in the weather.

What are the symptoms?

There are quite a few symptoms that you may experience when dealing with seasonal affective disorder, these include:

→A persistent low mood. You may feel sad, low, tearful, maybe you feel you have let others or yourself down, feeling hopeless or sometimes feeling nothing. You might find that you have really low energy and struggle to do everyday tasks, or you might find that you lose interest or pleasure in your usual day to day activities.

→Issues with sleeping. You might find you are having trouble getting any sleep or that you sleep for long amounts of time and struggle to get out of bed in the mornings. You could also feel tired throughout the day and all you want to do is sleep.

→Your anxiety might be feeling worse than usual. You may find that you're struggling to cope with everyday stresses, or you constantly feel tense and anxious. This then might lead to panic attacks.

→You may find that you're getting ill more. Some people with SAD may have a lowered immune system during the winter which means you can be more likely to get colds, infections or other illnesses.

→You may crave more food that's not good for you and over-eat. You might find that you 'comfort eat' and snack more than usual.

→It could affect your social life and relationships. You may become more irritable or you just don't want to see people or even step foot outside.

You may not experience all of these at once, they're just some symptoms that may occur. Most find that their symptoms vary from year to year and others find that they get better or worse as they get older. There is a small percentage of people who have very severe symptoms and find it difficult to carry out daily tasks without receiving treatment.

What causes SAD?

There are many theories behind what causes SAD as the exact cause is still not really understood. The main theory is the reduced exposure to sunlight during the shorter days in Autumn and Winter. It is said that the lack of sunlight might stop a part of the brain called the hypothalamus from working properly. This would then cause several things to happen:

→Your body may then produce more melatonin than normal which is a hormone that makes you feel tired, if you read my previous post on sleeping you'll see that I went into detail about it there. However the reason why we start to feel more tired in the evenings is because when it gets darker our body starts producing melatonin which is why they tell you not to look at a laptop or your phone just before you go to sleep because the light from it will disrupt this.

→The lack of light may also lead to less serotonin being released. I'm sure you've heard of this before but serotonin is a hormone that affects your mood, appetite and sleep. Usually if you're doing something fun, or eating something you really enjoy you're more than likely releasing more serotonin. Therefore if we start to produce less of it, it then starts to make us feel low all the time - this is often linked to feelings of depression.

→It can also effect your body's internal clock. Our bodies usually use the sunlight to calculate the times of the day. For example in the morning you might get bits of light come through your curtains/blinds and your body will naturally wake itself up because it recognises the light with morning. Therefore having less light can disrupt our body clock and then lead to symptoms of SAD.

Treatment and self-help?

There are plenty of ways we can look after ourselves:

→ Make the most of the natural light! This may not cure it as there's people who work outside that still experience this issue however it is still worth taking the opportunity. Go for a walk, I know it's cold but wrap up warm, have your umbrella with you and enjoy that light and fresh air. I know that when I'm feeling rubbish going outside really helps me - I think that's most likely down to the fact that I'm always stuck inside so it's also a great change of scenery for me.

→Try to avoid stress. I know its easier said than done believe me, but perhaps try and be more organised, write down your to-do lists so you know exactly what you need to do, or in the Summer plan ahead to the activities you need to do in the Winter - for example Christmas shopping - I know this can be a nightmare sometimes especially going into a massive shopping centre and being smothered by hoards of people - so plan ahead, if you see something in a shop in the Summer and you think 'I know who would love that' then buy it and there you go, one Christmas present down!

Perhaps plan to do less in the Winter, pamper yourself more, or do a few relaxation techniques like mindfulness.

→Exercise and eat well. Exercise - possibly something you don't want to do much of in the colder months but it really does help. It can help to keep your mood upbeat and make you feel more energetic. You don't have to drag yourself out to the gym, there's plenty of exercises you can do in your home, there's exercise DVD's, apps you can follow - there's so many alternatives nowadays!

As I said above you might find that you snack more in the Winter which is fine of course, but why not make them healthy snacks? It is common with people that experience SAD that they want to eat more carbohydrates so try and balance that a bit, have some fresh fruit and vegetables and perhaps take extra vitamins.

→If it's something you can afford to do then go somewhere with more light. Go on holiday to a sunnier climate as this might help to reduce the symptoms - I'm sure everyone gets super excited when you know there's a holiday coming up too! Although this could just be a temporary treatment as some people who do suffer with SAD can often get worse when going between light levels in a short space of time.

Of course if you're struggling to help yourself then please do go and speak to your GP about it, there's professional treatments out there, may that be counselling or medication.

My self-care reading recommendation:

I might make this a usual thing now as I do love recommending a book that has really helped me! Today I am recommending: Anxiety, Panicking about Panic by Joshua Fletcher. I can't recommend this book enough, it was one of the first books about anxiety that I had ever read and it helped me so much. It made me think about anxiety differently and how we can learn to get our anxiety to a level we can cope with. Have a look here:

Thank you for reading!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learnt a lot. If you find you're someone that experiences SAD then I hope this has helped in any way - or if you know someone who does then I hope this has given you good information on how you can help them out!

I just wanted to say thank you to Jess at jessicakatie for nominating me for this award! ☀ The blogger community is lovely and I absolutely adore how helpful and encouraging everyone is.

[EDIT] On November 3rd I was nominated for another Sunshine Blogger award from the lovely Kat you can find her blog here - boozyhousewife - another great blog and lovely blogger. Please go check out her blog, another great supportive and all-round amazing person!

The rules of the Sunshine Blogger award is as follows:

☀ Thank the blogger who nominated them and link back to their blog.
☀ Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated them.
☀ Nominate 11 other blogs and give them 11 new questions to answer.
☀ Notify your nominees and display the Sunshine Blogger Award in your post.

Here are the questions I have been asked:

☀ If your house was on fire and you had time to get one object, what would you grab?

I would definitely get my hamster Xavier - there's no way I could leave him in my house burning! I mean I guess he's not exactly an 'object' but I just couldn't leave him!

☀ Which book can you read over and over again and never tire with?

I would probably choose one of my self-care books as I do literally go back and re-read them all the time. One of my favourites is Anxiety Panicking about Panic by Joshua Fletcher.

☀ If you had no fear what is the first thing you would do?

This is a difficult question.. I think I'd probably start a YouTube channel but I'm way too scared to do that right now!

☀ What is your dream job?

Not going to lie, I'd love to just travel the world and make videos about it - how amazing would that be? There was someone I used to work with who would always say to me 'I can't wait to see you travelling the world and blogging about it.'

☀ What does feminism mean to you?

I'd say it means equality between men and women. Everything that men are allowed or get should be the same for women, for example, women should be paid the same amount as men in any job. Or women should be offered the same opportunities that men are and vice versa!

☀ Did you ever think you'd be a blogger when you were younger?

No not really, when I was younger I actually wanted to be a vet just because I love animals so much. But it was only as I got a lot older than I wanted to be a blogger.

☀ When did you surprise yourself?

Probably when my blog started to get noticed, I just didn't think it would ever get to that!

☀ In what way has your life turned out differently than you thought it would? Can I be honest and say I never thought I'd find someone who loves me and wants to spend the rest of their life with me. I guess the future is uncertain so you don't really know what to expect!

☀ Tell me one thing I might not know about you? I absolutely love the new Malteser buttons that are out, and yes I do know about the big bucket of them you can get in Tesco's now and I will be stocking up for sure!

☀ Name three films you love.

The Truman Show - it makes me cry so much but it's such a great film, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - one of my all-time favourite films, I've probably watched it over 50 times, and Fight Club - if you've never seen it I'd recommend it so much because it's such a good film to watch for the first time.

☀ What place in the world would you love to visit? I would love to visit Japan - I've wanted to go for so long so i'm sure at some point in my life I will get to visit!

My Questions:

1. If you were only allowed to eat one thing for the rest of you life, what would it be?

2. What fictional character would you love to meet in real life?

3. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

4. What is the best thing you have ever cooked?

5. What's the most ridiculous thing someone has tricked you into doing or believing?

6. What weird food combination do you really enjoy?

7. Where's your favourite place to visit?

8. If you were stuck on an island and could only bring 3 items with you, what would they be?

9. What's your favourite animal?

10. If someone narrated your life, who would you want the narrator to be?